FCE18
Fuzz Club Eindhoven 2018
PIECE OF PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC HISTORY!
QUIETUS The
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Patrick Clarke
THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN With the Liverpool Psych Fest taking 2018 off as a “fallow” year leaving a hole in the festival calendar, the perfect opportunity arose for someone to fill the gap. Step forward Fuzz Club, the ever expanding London Psych Rock label who have just curated one of the best ever Psych Fest line ups for quite some time at the lauded Effenaar venue in Eindhoven. Spread over two days with two rooms of music, it was a celebration of everything Fuzz Club with a bill to die for with bands from across the globe that included t h e l a b e l ’s b i g h i t t e r s 1 0 , 0 0 0 Russos along with the well respected “cult” bands and breakthrough acts that Fuzz Club have brought to the
Backseat Mafia
attention of the discerning PsychHead over the years such as Pretty L i g h t n i n g , S o n i c J e s u s, D e a d R a bb i t s, R M F T M , S e ke l , D e a d Vibrations, Helicon, The Oscillation & Ju Ju plus a few other bands that have links to the label through Fuzz Club’s essential Reverb Conspiracy compilations and the raw & live Fuzz Club Session’s releases such as Holy Wave, J o s e f i n Ö h r n a n d U l r i k a Spacek. Add to the mix of great Fuzz Club related bands two of the current scene’s heavyweights, The Black Angels & A Place To Bury Strangers, then you really have got a “wish list” festival.
Reviews on the New Candys & RMFTM shows By Le Crowle
For a first festival from Fuzz Club this was brilliant…….. Eindhoven may not be as expansive in terms of visuals and scope as Liverpool yet, but give it time. Both rooms sounded great which is always a plus and once the lights kicked in on the main stage retinas were duly frazzled. If it turns out to be a one off, then it was legendary.………. we are expecting the Fuzz Club festival to return bigger and better as the response from the PsychHeads who made it there has been more than excellent......... plus we have not had this much fun at a Psych Fest for absolutely ages & we could not recommend more you getting your ass to Eindhoven.
DROWNED IN SOUND Despite only becoming a label in 2012,Fuzz Club has established itself as one of the most highly respected independents in the world over the course of its six-year existence. Formed by Norwegian music lover Casper Dee after discovering The Underground Youth on MySpace (remember that?), his label has since been responsible for a number of significant releases including the aforementioned's third (and breakthrough) long player Delirium, Dead Skeletons' Buddha Christ EP and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's Polygondwanaland. So the next obvious step is to curate a festival featuring many of the bands whose careers have been launched by the label and more besides. What started out and continues to be a labour of love has brought together an underground scene from around the globe, while encouraging other like-minded folks to do the same. Because the first edition of Fuzz Club Eindhoven was nothing short of being a resounding success. Both stages pretty much ran to time, every performer played as if their lives depended on it, and the venue was as perfect a platform as its curators could have wished for. Perhaps more tellingly, there were no corporate sponsors, major advertisers, or branding of any form - this was a purely DIY event managed by a label who embody the true ethos of DIY in everything they do. Reviews on the Spectrum & Sonic Jesus shows By Dom Gourlay
Long may it continue.
Fuzz Club Epitomize The True Spirit Of DIY
As we arrive, German two-piece Pretty Lightning are already in mid-groove on the smaller of the festival’s two stages, thrusting their way through a set of no-nonsense cosmic thumping. Within a few minutes, as we see them hit a particularly rich vein of slick and sleazy intergalactic groove, slathered in gritted-teeth riffs, we’re transported straight back into that old psych-head mindset.
PRETTY LIGHTNING
FRIDAY / AUG 24 18:00-18:45
Ron Gallo follows them with what’s possibly the set of the weekend. Gangly, clean shaven and with a mop of curly brown hair buried under his baseball cap, he stands out physically as well as musically on the line-up, his set simmering with tension, energy and frenetic jabs of guitar.
RON GALLO
FRIDAY / AUG 24 21:45-22:30
JOSEFIN ÖHRN FRIDAY / AUG 24 19:45-20:30
Öhrn stands centre stage, silhouetted by lights and surrounded in smoke, rooted to the spot as she and her band produce a sweet, glistening sonic sweep.It’s gentle, but somehow still powerful, never soft or easy but uplifting and transporting. She is the first to prove that psychedelia’s light is far from extinguished.
SPECTRUM FRIDAY / AUG 24 22:15-23:00
It's probably fair to say that without Pete Kember aka Sonic Boom and the music he's bestowed upon us throughout the course of his career, the psych-rock scene wouldn't exist in the way that we know it. So it represented something of a major coup for Fuzz Club that they secured his booking for the opening night of this extravaganza bearing in mind the reverence Kember holds within the scene. Playing this evening as a duo alongside Cult Of Dom Keller guitarist and longtime collaborator Jason Holt, with Kember himself on keyboards and guitar, Spectrum are something of a revelation. In a Spacemen 3 heavy set that's bookended by opener 'Transparent Radiation' and a fifteen minute version of 'Big City' for the grand finale, interspersed with highlights from Spectrum's back catalogue, particularly 'Lord I Don't Even Know My Name' from 1992's debut Soul Kiss, their set transports us back over a quarter of a century to an era most people had forgotten yet, for forty-five glorious minutes, welcomed back into their lives like a long-lost relative.
FRIDAY / AUG 24 23:30-00:30
A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
A Place To Bury Strangers are gearing up to deliver a headline slot for the ages. They start, it’s fair to say, strong, launching into the supercharged industrial blast of ‘We’ve Come So Far’ to a relentless flash of strobing light. Within seconds they’re already smashing up their instruments as their chaotic, deranged attack of noise gets more and more intense. It’s frantic and violent, like a supergiant star collapsing into itself and exploding into a supernova. What’s more extraordinary still is that after starting at what seems like a breaking point,they teeter brilliantly on its edge for the entire set, never tumbling, embracing the chaos.
New Candysr going from strength to strength with every release. Their inclusion here today has caused a buzz and the main stage is packed for their set from start to finish. Their set includes ‘Bleeding Magenta’ itself with its rolling guitar riffs and reverberating vocals and the evocative fan favourite ‘Aphrodite in Leather’ from 2015 LP New Candys As Medicine.They also excite live and today was no exception.
NEW CANDYS
SATURDAY / AUG 25 17:30-18:15
SONIC JESUSÂ LIVED UP TO THEIR NAME LATER THAT EVENING. Their performance became something of a consecrated celebration, as members of the band both past and present combined for one glorious, show-stopping production. Musically reminiscent of several eras of alternative guitar music, whether it be sisters of mercy's relentless death disco, the brian jonestown massacre's sensory psychedelia, the chameleons' brooding post-punk, or nine inch nails all-out sonic assault, there's little doubt sonic jesus have earned the reverence that accompanies their name through sheer hard work and dedication to their craft. They even bring their own bez in tow this evening, contributing the odd tambourine or maracca shake here and there, while in 'funeral party' possess a fearsome anthem of their own.
SONIC JESUS SATURDAY / AUG 25 20:00-20:45
THE LIMIĂ‘ SATURDAY / AUG
The Limianas make up for a lengthy delay at soundcheck with a glorious performance there, both s and thudding grooves as a man dressed in a busine
Ă‘ANAS 25 22:30-23:15
saucy and self-deprecating, lush, heavily accented French monologues lilting over wicked basslines ess suit dances awkwardly at the back of the stage.
The Black Angels set carries a certain dark energy that cannot be obtained by any formula; as the screens behind them spiral, ebb and flow as those wicked, fuggy riffs descend and descend, Alex Maas’ vocals riding with a triumphant wail over the top.
THE BLACK ANGLES SATURDAY / AUG 25 23:45-00:45
CLASH
Mind-Blowing Sound From The Noise Rock Underground It's taken some time for the dust to settle after Fuzz Club Eindhoven's triumphant weekend at the ineffable Effenaar. How to describe thirty-six hours of music equal parts glorious and tumultuous has proved a real challenge. Fuzz Club's reputation as a purveyor of fine art is richly deserved. I want to be honest. I didn't see all of the bands who played over the weekend. In order to do this, I would have needed to stay up till 4am on both evenings. --The weekend began with a thunderous performance from Nik Raynes (The Myrrors), a fine start indeed, setting the scene for the festival with a huge sound and oodles of atmosphere. You Said Strange followed, playing groovy, woozy psychedelia to a packed second stage room. Pretty Lightning entertained with thunderous tom work and majestic beards two highlights of their incendiary set. If you thought bands like Royal Blood had the two-piece thing down, you're sorely mistaken. This is glorious stuff, with another major plus being the use of
tambourine and shaker. Elsewhere, Dead Rabbits overcame some vocal tuning issues to put on a great show full of light and shade, Spirit Valley gave an energetic and vibrant performance in which their core sound was augmented beautifully by synths and synth pads. Some of those crescendos...My goodness. Holy Wave gave a mature and muscular performance of driving psych-infused indie featuring some gorgeous vocal harmonies. A new song debuted on the night, 'Adult Ffear' shows that the leaps and bounds the band take with each project show no signs of abating. One of the best bands of the night. As I watched Ron Gallo, I made the following notes: So loud. So loud. So loud. Bass drum moves bottles. A really fun show nonetheless. Real skill and panache. One of the most excitable bands of the whole festival, Ron Gallo whip up a storm of rock 'n' roll fury whilst at the same time looking like they're having a whole lot of fun. More bands should have a whole lot of fun. My night ends with Medicine Boy, whose new album 'Lower' is out later on in the year and
is a fine piece of work. The two-piece put on a jaw-dropping show full of atmosphere which is both ominous and meticulously-crafted. This is a true performance, as the way the two protagonists interact with one another is worth watching on its own, even without the music. Thankfully the songs are great too, with selections from the new album showing a real craft and maturity, a fullness of sound which really bodes well for the future. Their forty-five minute set flies by and is over all-toosoon. Hands down the best band of the night. At this juncture, the high of having seen such a wonderful band at the height of their powers along with the fact that it was already midnight led me to retire gracefully for the night. There was no way Medicine Boy could be topped, not on this night. --Returning refreshed as though a daisy for Saturday's frivolities, the evening began early with the BRMC-esque vibes of The Third Sound, who packed a huge amount in to their short, sharp bursts of adrenaline. Sekel were hugely impressive in showcasing all the
RMFTM
SATURDAY / AUG 25 02:30-03:15
Drawing the night to an end is eindhoven residents rmftm who now blend industrial edged psychedelia with electronica to create an intoxicating mix which works well in this setting.
best elements of psych music and proving once again that all the best bands really are Scandinavian. The band overcame some technical issues and what appeared to be a fair dose of nerves to deliver a truly joyous set swathed in the ubiquitous fuzz. New Candys played to a full and partisan room, showcasing songs from their fantastic recent album 'Bleeding Magenta'. These are 90s indie songs (in a very positive sense) precision tooled for playing live. They slay the room. Dead Vibrations produced one of the finest albums of the year, perhaps sadly overlooked because of its release early in the year. Tonight they are imperious. Squalls of feedback, some great solos, a watertight rhythm section, stirring vocals, it's all there. There are very few bands in the world as exciting as them. Seek them out immediately. Tales of Murder and Dust are next and they have a hard act to follow. Their dark and doom-laden cinematic rock has many in the crowd in raptures. Sonic Jesus are confident, loud and multi-layered, as members past and present join together for a celebratory set laden with treasures. If I were to start a
band, I'd want it to sound like this, so many layers, such consistent quality of songwriting, such volume. It's all there. No wonder they have the crowd eating out of the palm of their collective hand. The Wands reform for a one-night only romp through their hits of yester-year. A really exciting band to watch, full of great tunes, creative melodies and some really delightful guitar work, it's a shame that we may never see them again. The festival ends for me with the wondrous sight of JuJu. I didn't make many notes in this gig, noting only that what was presented was akin to a 'drone band dance party'. Of course, anyone who has heard their album 'Our Mother Was A Planet' will be far from surprised that the performance was a true high point of the whole event as energy and harmony spilled from the stage at the same propulsive rate as guitar solos and hypnotic bass grooves, really there could be no better headliner for the second stage of this fantastic event than them. At this point, I retired gracefully. not before looking back in a somewhat misty-eyed fashion and realising
that my expectations had been wildly exceeded for this weekend. Psych and shoegaze are resurgent and, on the evidence of this weekend, it will continue for some time to come. Fuzz Club cemented its burgeoning reputation as one of the most vibrant and diverse labels in the world and hundreds of bleary-eyed fans departed Eindhoven ecstatic and hungry for more. What more could you want from a festival? A truly great experience which I'm really grateful for and looking forward to repeating as soon as possible. --Words: Haydon Spenceley
FUZZ CLUB EINDHOVEN 2018
THE WANDS
SATURDAY / AUG 25 20:30-21:15
Backseat Mafia Hundreds have made the pilgrimage to Eindhoven, the Netherlands, from across the globe to witness what is certain to be an event that will not easily be forgotten with a line-up that is quite simply outstanding for anyone of a psychedelic persuasion.
It’s hard to sum up the atmosphere, quality of music, exceptional organisation and sheer enjoyment that this festival has evoked in words, but one things for sure, I’m glad I witnessed this piece of psychedelic music history!
PHOTOGRAPHY & DESIGN BY TAL WEISS